From the Panhandle

First we had green trees, then we had “green” buildings, and now, Sandpoint is about to have the first green streets in Idaho.

Green streets are engineered to deal with storm water at its source instead of letting it run off to pollute our lake. There are several approaches to this: We can reduce the amount of area that creates runoff, filter contaminants out of the water on site, and/or plant trees along our streets, explains Public Works Director Kody Van Dyk.  Narrowing the street reduces runoff, and swales along the side of the road help filter runoff—although Sandpoint’s high water table and highly impermeable soil make this a particular challenge. The trees help by absorbing water through their roots as well as by catching some rainwater on their leaves, from which it evaporates without ever hitting the ground.

There are a number of misconceptions, and a lack of perspective that drives the wolf hysteria in these states.  Below are a number of commonly heard popular comments about wolves and a response. Like any popular quip there is typically some kernel of truth that often is greatly exaggerated or is repeated without verification. These assertions are repeated so often they are adopted as “truths” without critical examination of the fundamental assumptions

From the Panhandle

Devoted readers will recall a post a few months ago about an inordinate local interest in wolverines, sparked by a study of forest carnivores—many of them members of the Mustelid family—being made by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Last week, two IDFG biologists, Lacy Robinson and Michael Lucid, presented the findings from this study at the East Bonner County Library.

Members of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness hosted the presentation. These individuals have a penchant for human-powered travel in their proposed wilderness, which, as it turns out, was included in the area IDFG wanted to study and was not accessible by snowmobile. Hence they were recruited to ski/snowshoe into a study site, and they enthusiastically assisted Robinson and Lucid—whom they thought of as “Mr. and Mrs. Mustelid,” in setting it up to capture the elusive carnivores on camera.

From the Panhandle

At the end of April, I flew from Spokane back East for a conference. My flight was delayed due to heavy rain where I connected in Minneapolis and high winds where I landed in New Jersey. And this was fortunate, since it was snowing so hard as I left Sandpoint that I could barely see to drive, and I arrived late at the airport. As the light came up for my early morning departure, it was evident that the snow was piling up in the fields and sticking even on the roadway.

It was 80 degrees in New York. I got off the subway at the wrong stop, and spent some time wandering around the north end of Manhattan as a result. I was in my shirtsleeves, and it was after 10 p.m.

Oregon, like many western states, allows cougar hunting. Part of the justification for hunting is the assumption that killing cougars will reduce livestock losses and increase public safety. There is growing scientific evidence that suggests that sport hunting is more likely to increase cougar predation on livestock and may even increase the likelihood cougar attacks on humans.

From the Panhandle

Okay, it’s not just me. It really is worse this year. Our streets really are looking like they ought to be skinned and made into alligator handbags.

As the snow finally began to recede into memory this spring, it seemed to me that the roads reappearing from beneath it were showing more frost damage than usual. On those first frozen forays by bicycle, more potholes than ever seemed to beckon my newly reinflated tires.

And it turns out, it IS bad. It’s so bad that Governor Butch Otter has declared Bonner County a disaster area, along with Shoshone, Boundary, Nez Perce, Idaho, and Clearwater counties. Being officially disastrous, apparently, may qualify us for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fix our roads. This would be nice, as the county doesn’t have anywhere near the funds it needs for repairs.

George Wuerthner's On the Range

In light of the recent successful delisting of the wolf by Congress, I have been thinking a lot about why I so strenuously object to killing wolves. 

From the Panhandle

It’s almost Easter, bringing to mind spring, green grass, daffodils, bunnies….

But here in Sandpoint, the grass is white with frost, the temperature is well below freezing, and tiny white flakes are drifting down aimlessly from an icy gray sky.

What happened to spring this year? In the mountains, the snowpack continues to increase (although the ski area has closed), and in the garden, the tulip leaves have emerged from the ground, but the flowers refuse to bloom.

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

The 1970s was simply the best decade for rock. It’s a subjective sentiment, partly borne of my being the right impressionable age at the right time, but you can’t argue with the ground-breaking and timeless music that was produced during that ten years that stretched between the birth of heavy metal on Black Sabbath’s debut album to the elegy for Bon Scott (the lead singer who died from alcohol poising which, in rock, is known as “natural causes”) on AC/DC’s scajillion-selling Back in Black

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

Everyone agrees that spending must be reduced, but President Obama and congressional Republicans seem unable to agree on how much to cut, and where the cuts are made. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Demos are attempting to trim this rump roast of spending with a tiny keychain Swiss Army knife, while Speaker of the House John Bohner’s ruthless Republicans seem eager to kowtow to Tea Party extremists by savagely hacking away at social programs while leaving their beloved sacred cow of a military budget fat, dumb and happy.